bread & butter.

There are three reasons why I love this post.

Two of those reasons involve butter. The other involves bread.

And thus also sums up what I love about life.

simply homemade bread mix.

raspberry + vanilla.

rosemary + garlic.

Here’s a fun fact: Once upon a time I had this idea in my head that I’d only have homemade bread in the house at all times. Like, I’d never buy a loaf of sandwich bread from the grocery store again. Like, I’d get up early one morning at the beginning of each week and whip up a few loaves to get us through the next few days. Like, I’d be the best homemaker ever and other unrealistic (read: insane) times like that.

I feel ashamed to say this, as I am one who bakes and blogs often about bread, but the truth is we buy a loaf of sandwich bread from the store EVERY WEEK. And it’s made by some generic company that produces a gazillion of them for grocery stores all over THE COUNTRY. And I LIKE THE WAY IT TASTES. And I’M USING A LOT OF CAPITALIZATION AND I DON’T KNOW WHAT WE’RE YELLING ABOUT. (*hangs head in shame*) But really, does this make me a bad person? No. It just means I’m (mostly) normal.

stirring.

rising.

multi-grain bread.

Whew. I’m glad we had this talk.

Then one day, one fine day, one magical day, the good people at Fleischmann’s opened my eyes and offered me the opportunity to try one of their Simply Homemade no-knead bread mixes. It’s basically a boxed mix with yeast and sugar where you add your own water, stir everything together, shape the dough into a loaf and bake it — and tada! you have bread. Delicious, easy, tastes-like-homemade bread — a.k.a., the sweet spot between store-bought and homemade bread.

butter, all rolled up.

butters, sweet & savory.

I’ll be honest here: I’m not the hugest fan of using bread mixes on a regular basis. To me, it’s just not quite the same as making it from scratch, in both taste and texture. But when you’ve got a real life to take care of and therefore can’t make homemade bread every week (or maybe you can, in which case, hats off to you! But seriously.), this is a pretty great (and pretty yummy) solution. Especially when you serve it warm with some compound butter of the rosemary-garlic and raspberry-vanilla varieties. Oh yes.

breads & butters.

Bread and butter. Ain’t nothing wrong with that.

Rosemary-Garlic Compound Butter
A Girl Versus Dough original

Yields: 1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

Directions:

In the bowl of a stand mixer fixed with whisk attachment, beat stick of butter on high until fluffy and smooth.

Replace whisk attachment with paddle attachment. Add rosemary and garlic to bowl; stir until just combined.

Transfer butter to a sheet of plastic wrap and shape into a cylinder; cover with plastic wrap. Cover plastic wrap with aluminum foil and twist ends in opposite directions to tighten.

Transfer butter to freezer and freeze 30 minutes. Transfer to fridge and store there until ready to serve.

Serve with steak, biscuits or warm, fresh-baked Simply Homemade no-knead multi-grain bread.

Raspberry-Vanilla Compound Butter
A Girl Versus Dough original

Yields: 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Directions:

In the bowl of a stand mixer fixed with whisk attachment, beat stick of butter on high until fluffy and smooth.

Replace whisk attachment with paddle attachment. Add raspberries, vanilla and sugar to bowl; stir until just combined.

Transfer butter to a sheet of plastic wrap and shape into a cylinder; cover with plastic wrap. Cover plastic wrap with aluminum foil and twist ends in opposite directions to tighten.

Transfer butter to freezer and freeze 30 minutes. Transfer to fridge and store there until ready to serve.

Serve with French toast, muffins or warm, fresh-baked Simply Homemade no-knead country white bread.

Disclaimer: I was provided with samples of Fleischmann’s Simply Homemade no-knead bread mixes for review purposes only. All opinions are my own.